The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing printer ink cartridges.
A typical ink jet printer has an ink cartridge containing ink. In printing, the ink is supplied to a printer body from the ink cartridge and ejected from a printing head, which is mounted on the printer body, to a recording paper.
The ink cartridge contains a porous member, such as a sponge. The porous member, which has a capillary effect, holds ink in the cartridge. Therefore, the ink is adequately supplied to the printer body from the cartridge. The porous member is inexpensive and easy to manufacture, so that the cost of the cartridge is reduced.
FIGS. 8(a), 8(b), and 8(c) show a conventional ink cartridge container 52 and a porous member 51, which is contained in the container 52. The container 52 is a relatively simple, rectangular parallelepiped. The shape of each porous member 51 is substantially the same as that of the container 52. When the porous member 51 is inserted into the container 52, the porous member 51 is first positioned above and parallel to the container 52, as shown in FIG. 8(a). Then, as shown in FIG. 8(b), the porous member 51 is moved toward the container 52 and into the container 52 through an upper opening. However, the upper edge of the container 52, interferes with the bottom of the porous member 51, so that the porous member 51 is difficult to insert.
As shown in FIG. 8(c), an internal projection 53 is formed on the bottom surface of the container 52. The projection 53 is provided with an outlet mechanism 54 for conducting ink from the container 52. When the porous member 51 is inserted into the container 52, the porous member 51 contacts the projection 53, so that the porous member 51 does not fill the container 52 and does not reach the internal bottom surface of the container 52. Therefore, a gap is created between the internal bottom surface of the container 52 and the porous member 51.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 8-224887 discloses an ink cartridge having a container and porous members. The container and the porous members both have simply shaped components. The container, which accommodates the porous members, is formed by assembling the components. Although the container has a relatively complicated shape, the simple shapes of the components permit the porous members to be easily placed in the container. However, since the components must be assembled to be liquid-tight, the manufacture is complicated.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for manufacturing an ink cartridge that facilitates the insertion of a porous member into a container without increasing the number of components.
To achieve the above object, the present invention provides a method for manufacturing an ink cartridge. The ink cartridge has a container having a substantially parallelepiped storage chamber and a substantially parallelepiped porous member for holding ink. The porous member is contained in the storage chamber. The container has an ink supply port for conducting ink from the storage chamber. The porous member is inserted into the storage chamber through an opening of the container while inclining the porous member relative to the storage chamber.
The present invention further provides a method for manufacturing an ink cartridge. The ink cartridge has a container having a storage chamber and a porous member for holding ink. The porous member is contained in the storage chamber. The container has an ink supply port for conducting ink from the storage chamber. The method includes compressing and deforming the bottom surface of the porous member to substantially conform to the bottom surface of the storage chamber and inserting the porous member into the storage chamber through an opening of the container after the compression of the bottom surface of the porous member.
The present invention further provides a method for manufacturing an ink cartridge. The ink cartridge includes a container having a storage chamber and a porous member for holding ink. The porous member is contained in the storage chamber. The method includes inserting the porous member into the storage chamber through an opening of the container, compressing the inserted porous member toward the bottom surface of the storage chamber, and attaching a lid to the container to close the opening of the container after the compression of the porous member.
The present invention further provides a method for manufacturing an ink cartridge. The ink cartridge includes a container having a plurality of storage chambers and a plurality of porous members for holding ink. Each porous member is contained in one of the storage chambers. The method includes inserting the porous members into the storage chambers. Each adjacent pair of the porous members are inserted into the corresponding storage chambers at a predetermined time interval.
Other aspects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, illustrating by way of example the principles of the invention.